Healthcare, Education Hot Markets in '05

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Healthcare, Education Hot Markets in '05

Healthcare, K-12 and higher education will be among the hottest markets for design and construction firms in 2005, while the power, air pollution and ports markets will struggle, according to the 2005 AEC Industry Outlook: Strategy and Insight for Design & Construction Firms, a new report from ZwiegWhite.

Released in conjunction with an exclusive survey of the design and construction industries, the report finds that architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) business will outperform the U.S. economy as a whole in 2005. Asked to rank 25 markets in terms of their expected strength this year, respondents to the survey named healthcare, K-12 schools and higher education as having the strongest outlook.

Supporting these results, the U.S. Department of Commerce projects that healthcare construction put in place will grow 7.9 percent in 2005, the fastest of any market sector. Double-digit increases in healthcare insurance costs are providing capital, and an aging population and advancements in technology are increasing demand for healthcare facilities.

Demographics, voter-approved bond measures, strong property tax revenue and court-mandated programs will make the K-12 market among the strongest this year. Higher education construction is at an all-time high, and improvements to state budgets and a rebounding stock market will help financing, the report states.

NCIDQ Challenges AIA Article

In an article published in the October 12, 2004, issue of AIA Angle ("NCIDQ Adopts New Interior Design Definition"), the American Institute of Architects takes issue with the National Council for Interior Design Qualification's new Definition of Interior Design. In the article, the AIA claims that the definition "proposes to greatly expand the scope of interior design services into areas that are currently covered by architectural practice statutes and which are tantamount to unlicensed architectural practice if offered by individuals other than licensed architects." Further, the article claims that the new definition includes several tasks that "could directly and significantly affect public health and safety areas currently provided by architects."

In an official response to the AIA article, NCIDQ challenged the "inaccurate statements" made by its author. "While the article's author may not realize this, the tasks described in the definition are those which are within today's current and customary practice of interior design. Some of the descriptions, such as planning and programming, for example, describe tasks executed by a number of professionals engaged in work for the built environment. However, this definition serves to clarify descriptions relating only to interior design practice and the built environment."

According to NCIDQ, the purpose of its Definition of Interior Design is to provide current descriptions for clarification and understanding by the public and to reflect the complexity of interior design. It is also anticipated that the definition would be used by legislatures when drafting future laws or modifying existing laws that protect the public health, life safety and welfare, the NCIDQ response states.

"Each jurisdictional legislature determines which professions to regulate and to what extent," NCIDQ continues. "It is therefore possible that architects, interior designers and engineers would be permitted by statute to perform overlapping professional services making it irrelevant that these interior design services are currently covered by architectural practice statutes. The most important issue is that all professionals practicing regulated activities be competent and that the public be protected from incompetent practice."

In a statement to Interiors & Sources defending AIA's position, Paul T. Mendelsohn, senior director, state and local affairs, says that while architects deeply view interior designers as valuable colleagues and collaborators, "the AIA firmly believes that only individuals licensed to practice architecture should be allowed to offer architectural services. It does not matter whether the offending party is an engineer, an interior designer, a landscape architect, or any other occupation. Only licensed architects meet the stringent education, training and testing requirements that the health and safety aspects of design construction necessitate."

Mendelsohn continues, "Elements of the new NCIDQ definition are already provided in architectural practice. For instance, in a vast majority of jurisdictions, architects are responsible for stamping and sealing construction documents. This is true even in many of the states that currently regulate interior design.

"The NCIDQ's explanation that it is 'possible that architects, interior designers and engineers would be permitted by statute to perform overlapping services' supports a dangerous trend that runs counter to the purpose of licensure. Fragmentation of or overlap of professional responsibility for the building design process poses burdensome jurisdictional questions and may mislead the public as to respective areas of competence in the design professions.

"The sole basis for licensing should be the protection of the public. Elements of building design that effect public health and safety and that are within the scope of architectural practice require the training and experience found only in that required for licensing as an architect."

ASHRAE Offers Design/Build Guide

Starting a design/build business is not as simple as adding a new tag line to your corporate brochures, Web sites or business cards. "What you say you can do has a big impact on your legal liabilities and what others expect of you," warns Mark Diamond, co-author of The ASHRAE Member's Survival GuideDesign/Build, published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

The guide provides background on the issues, consequences and liabilities that can result for those considering executing projects using a design/build approach, a method of project delivery where both design and construction are executed by a single entity. The objective for the owner is to have a single point of contact for all aspects of executing the project. While it widely is considered a viable delivery option, design/build "should not be considered a panacea to all that ails the design and construction industries," Diamond adds.

The guide is available for $19 for non-members ($16 for ASHRAE members) at www.ashrae.org, or by calling (800) 527-4723.

Exhibit Explores A&D 'Toolbox'

Revealing the imagination of an architect or designer requires a well-stocked toolbox. From pencils and paper, to advanced computer technologies and 3D modeling, "Tools of the Imagination," an exhibition opening at the National Building Museum on March 5, and running through October 10, will examine the tools used and results achieved by architects and designers. The exhibition will explore how design tools have revolutionized the ways in which architects and designers imagine and create buildings, examining the relationships between what is imagined, how it is drawn or represented, and what is built.

Covering 250 years of design tools and technologiesfrom historic pencils, ink, and drafting equipment, to the latest and most sophisticated software and hardware, simulations, and modelsthe exhibition will consider the range of tools used in the last few centuries while also imagining what tools might best address future needs. A wide array of drawings, renderings and sketches from well-known architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, I.M. Pei and Frank Gehry will also be featured. The work of architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will be shown in the exhibition as well, including representations of the World Trade Center site's Freedom Tower.

The 4,000-square-foot exhibition will be designed by Andrew Petitti of Knowtis Design. Petitti has worked on numerous exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the National Wildlife Federation, The Textile Museum and others. The exhibition's guest curator is Susan Piedmont-Palladino, an architect and an associate professor of architecture at Virginia Tech's Washington/ Alexandria Architecture Consortium in Alexandria, VA.

UC Berkeley Receives FIDER Accreditation

UC Berkeley Extension's Interior Design and Interior Architecture certificate program received the maximum, six-year reaccreditation term from the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER). The accreditation reflects the revamping of the program's curriculum and the addition of nationally recognized designers to the program's boardnot to mention the custom building of design studio space in UC Berkeley Extension's new South of Market Center, which opened in January.

Interior Design and Interior Architecture will be housed in a brand-new, 33,000-square-foot space that UC Berkeley Extension is custom building. The facility will include three art-studio classrooms and four drafting classrooms, all with sealed concrete floors and open ceilings up to 20 feet high, as well as carpeted computer labs and nine classrooms, workspaces for Extension staff, a conference room and a student lounge.

Created in 1983 and first accredited in 1994, the Interior Design and Interior Architecture certificate program is one of UC Berkeley Extension's most demanding, requiring 77 semester units in addition to 45 units of general education coursework.

It is one of 137 programs accredited by FIDER in the United States and Canada, and the only part-time program geared toward working adults.

Healthcare Analysis Supports Evidence-Based Design

A new analysis of more than 400 research studies by The Center for Health Design shows a direct link between patient health and quality of care and the way a hospital is designed, according to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to healthcare, which funded the research.

The research analysis, conducted for The Center for Health Design by Roger Ulrich, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University, and Craig Zimring, Ph.D., of Georgia Tech University, is the most extensive review ever done of the evidence-based approach to hospital design. Their findings are summarized in a 69-page paper titled, "The Role of the Physical Environment in the Hospital of the 21st Century: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity."

The paper suggests that future hospitals can be much more geared to promoting healing, not just providing treatment. They can also be satisfying places to work, not ones in which new nursing graduates stay only a year or two. And their improved design, work processes and culture can increase institutional vitality and improve the bottom line.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the majority of the federal government's design and construction projects, released a study estimating the costs of developing green federal facilities using the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, Version 2.1.

The report provides a detailed and structured review of both the hard and soft costs of achieving LEED Certified, Silver and Gold ratings for two common GSA building types. The two buildings compared in the studya new mid-rise federal courthouse and a mid-rise federal office building modernizationreflect a significant portion of GSA's planned projects during the next five to 10 years. An analysis, including DOE.2 energy modeling, was performed to identify green building measures above and beyond those included in GSA's standards that would likely be implemented to meet the specific LEED ratings.

From these measures, the design and construction costs were estimated for each prerequisite and credit, with variations defined for both the courthouse and office building models. For each rating, "low" and "high" cost scenarios were developed in order to bracket LEED costs. For example, the estimated differential in hard costs for the new courthouse (where hard costs include material, equipment and labor) are: Certified: Low (-0.4%), High (+1.0%); Silver: Low (-0.03%), High (+4.4%); Gold: Low (+1.4%), High (+8.1%). The report also includes analysis of the soft costs.

The study was prepared by Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (SWA), with cost-estimating support provided by Skanska USA Building, Inc. It can be downloaded at no cost from the Whole Building Design Guide Web site (www.wbdg.org), a knowledge-based Web portal designed to provide government and industry practitioners with one-stop access to up-to-date information on a wide range of construction criteria, guidance and technology from an integrated, or "whole building," perspective. The WBDG was created by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, and is currently developed and managed by the National Institute of Building Sciences, with SWA support.

UB PUBLISHES GREEN DESIGN GUIDELINES

The next generation of buildings at the University at Buffalo will be the "greenest" ones it has ever constructed, thanks to a new set of guidelines on constructing green, or environmentally sustainable, buildings, published recently by the university.

Developed with the support of the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA), the guidelines provide a comprehensive look at site selection and design, architectural design, indoor environmental quality, mechanical systems, lighting equipment and utilities, water management, materials and resources, and construction and commissioning.

The "UB High Performance Building Guidelines" also are expected to influence the state's major construction agencies: the State University Construction Fund, responsible for construction on SUNY campuses, and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, which constructs dormitories, parking ramps, office buildings, prisons and nonprofit health-care facilities.

The "UB High Performance Building Guidelines" document may be downloaded at http://wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen/guide lines.html. Hard copies or CDs of the 150-page manual also may be obtained from the UB Green Office, University at Buffalo, 220 Winspear Ave., Buffalo, New York 14215, by sending an e-mail to ubgreen@facilities.buffalo.edu or by calling (716) 829-2525.

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